Given that the Future Air Combat System [SCAF]developed within the framework of cooperation associating France with Germany and Spain, would not be operational, at best, before 2040, the Military Programming Law [LPM] 2024-30 confirmed that the Rafale would be upgraded to the F5 standard in order to guarantee the continuity of the airborne component of nuclear deterrence, which relies on the Strategic Air Forces [FAS] of the Air & Space Force [AAE] and the Nuclear Naval Air Force [FANu] of the National Navy.
The challenge is to be able to have a fighter-bomber capable of carrying the future ASN4G missile [Air Sol Nucléaire de 4e génération]supposed to be operational in 2035. That is 10 to 15 years before we can consider its integration on the new generation combat aircraft [NGF, New Generation Fighter] on which the SCAF will be based.
Also, as explained by Emmanuel Chiva, the General Delegate for Armaments [DGA]this “requires us to demonstrate for this device [le Rafale F5, ndlr] a certain requirement in terms of ambition so that its penetration capacity remains credible at least until 2060.”
The Rafale upgraded to the F5 standard will be a “very different” fighter-bomber compared to its predecessor of the F4 standard. “The radar, electronic countermeasures and computer necessary for connectivity will have been modified. However, the computing capabilities making it possible to process hundreds of thousands of pieces of information require cabling that the Rafale as we know it today is not capable of supporting,” the general had in fact underlined. [2S] Stéphane Mille, the former chief of staff of the AAE, in 2023.
However, LPM 2024-30 also provides for the development of a combat drone intended to accompany the Rafale F5 in order to provide it with the capacity to suppress and destroy enemy air defenses. [SEAD – Suppression of Enemy Air Defenses].
This drone “will allow it to act with discretion and dazzlingness as an extension of the Rafale F5 to produce decisive network effects,” the Ministry of the Armed Forces then explained. And added: “With these characteristics”, it is called to be “a cornerstone of the treatment of modern medium and long range anti-aircraft systems”, which it will be able to “destroy”.
Work on the development of the Rafale F5 having been launched in 2023, the same remained to be done with this combat drone, especially since there is not much time to lose. This is now done, the Minister of the Armed Forces, Sébastien Lecornu, having waited for the 60th anniversary of the Strategic Air Forces, this October 8, in Saint-Dizier, to announce it.
“On Air Base 113 […] for the 60th anniversary of the Strategic Air Forces, Sébastien Lecornu announces a major development for French airborne nuclear deterrence: the new standard of the Rafale, the F5, which will carry the future ASN4G nuclear missile. [Il] also announced the launch of the stealth combat drone program, which will be operated directly from the Rafale cockpit,” the Ministry of the Armed Forces indicated via social networks.
“The first orders were notified to manufacturers a few weeks ago,” said the minister.
This announcement was welcomed by Dassault Aviation, to which the development of this combat drone was entrusted.
“This stealth combat drone, concomitantly with the Rafale F5, will contribute to the technological and operational superiority of the French wings from 2033. It is not insignificant that it is launched today, while the 60th anniversary of the first operational alert of the FAS and while the 90th anniversary of the AAE was celebrated last June: in aeronautics, a complex field par excellence, the future has deep roots and innovation is based on experience . Dassault Aviation and its partners are proud to serve the Armed Forces and the DGA; their renewed confidence honors and obliges us,” said Éric Trappier, its CEO.
According to Dassault Aviation’s explanations, and as one might expect, the development of this combat drone “will benefit from the achievements” of nEUROn, “the first European technological demonstrator of a stealth combat drone”. In addition, it will obviously be adapted to collaborative combat and will integrate technologies related to autonomous control. [avec l’homme dans la boucle].
As a reminder, resulting from a European cooperation led by Dassault Aviation and having associated Ruag [Suisse]Saab [Suède]Leonardo [Italie]the Spanish subsidiary of Airbus Defense & Space and HAI [Grèce]the nEUROn is a 7-ton device, with a wingspan of 12.5 meters and a width of 9.2 meters. Powered by a Rolls-Royce Turbomeca Adour Mk. 951 turbojet engine allowing it to fly at a speed of Mach 0.8 at an altitude of 14,000 meters, it can carry GBU-12 laser-guided bombs.
Photo : Dassault Aviation
